ONE PIECE Shining Sea Circus Arc
by NewComer1
Summary: Aster Houdini dreams to become the world's greatest entertainer, but stuck as a chore boy living with the famous circus on the Grand Line. However, his life changes when he meets the Straw Hat Pirates. Fate or not, this is where his life changes, and whole new world opens for him to the path for his dream!
1. Prologue

**One Piece: Shining Seas Circus Arc**

Prologue

In the wide blue sea, along the majestic o' Grand Line, many adventurous souls sailed on this adventurous, yet dangerous ocean current. Many pirates have traveled on this sea full of unexpectedness, and many have fallen to the victim of its dangerous waves.

However, only one pirate conquered this sea. A man named Gold Roger, who became the King of Pirates. His execution at his hometown, Loguetown and his final speech to the world ushered the grand age of pirates, whom many people set sail to the sea to find the legendary treasure, One Piece!

This was the story of a pirate crew called the Straw Hat Pirates as they are heading on to find the legendary treasure, though each with their own dream and goal on this Grand Line.

However, this isn't a story just about the Straw Hat Pirates. Today's tale is about a young boy who dreams, dreams to become something greater than himself and how he meets the Straw Hat crews.

But, before I tell you that story, let me tell you from the very beginning….

_\- One Piece –_

It was a stormy night somewhere on the Grand Line. Three Marines ships were sailing through the rough waves when a siren was occurring on one of the ships.

"Attention, all soldiers! Attention, all soldiers! A prisoner has escaped out of the cell! I repeat, a prisoner has escaped out of the cell!" An announcer spoke loudly through the speakers onboard the ship.

"A prisoner, female, about 33 inches, is escaped from the cell! A Level B prisoner! Be cautious and re-capture immediately! Do not let her escape!" All the soldiers scattered around, finding the escapee as the announcer stated.

Speaking of the devil, that same escape was also scattered around, trying to find a way to escape. The said escape was indeed a female, a woman with a height of 33 inches wearing a poncho jacket due to it was also raining outside.

She made her move, coming out of her hiding and ran as fast as possible.

"Huh? There she is!" One of the soldiers yelled. Lights shined on her, but she quickly disappeared, moving very fast, faster than an average human.

"Be careful! The captain warns us that she is a Devil Fruit user!" One soldier yelled.

"Have the sea prism handcuff ready!" Another soldier stated.

"Stop her!" Another different soldier yelled.

However, the lone woman dashed through the soldiers, bypassing all of them. She jumped onto a vacant boat and cut off the rope.

Her boat fell off onto the ocean and drifted it away.

"That woman! She used one of our small boats to escape!" One of the soldiers yelled, pointing the light on the escaped boat.

"We must go to her!" A higher rank looking Marine soldier declared.

"Yes, sir!" All the soldiers obeyed.

"Hold up!" They all stopped to a voice. It belonged to a big man in the same marine uniform, except his, was sleeveless, revealing big muscular arms with a tattoo that says "Hunter" on one arm and the other arm says "Hunted". He had shaggy dark brown hair with a big scar that ran across his face. His eyes glowed in crimson red color, making him look very intimidating.

"Ca…Captain Hunter! But the escapee, she's getting away!" The soldier warned him, but he was cut off when he grabbed by his neck.

"It doesn't matter. Let her escape for now. No matter how far she gets away, we'll find her," Captain Hunter said as he grabbed hold on the suffocating soldier's neck. "That's an order."

"Y…Yes, sir!" All the other soldiers obeyed as he let go of the struggling soldier.

"Is that understood, Lieutenant John?" He asked, looking down on the pitiful man.

"Yes, sir…" said the man as he coughed a bit before his voice returned to normal.

"Good…" Captain Hunter said before he left.

Until the captain was out of sight, two Marine soldiers helped the Lieutenant.

"Are you alright, sir?" One of the soldiers asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks," he said, still with a scratchy voice and serious, yet feared facial expression.

'No matter what happens, we need to re-capture that prisoner or else, or my life and my fellow men's' lives here will be killed by this man we call him our Captain!'

_\- Two Days Later –_

It was a bright sunny day. There were few white clouds in the sky, the sunlight shined over the ocean as it sparkled, and the seagulls cried softly, making a relaxing atmosphere.

There was another boat anchored in the middle of the sea. There were two people on the medium-sized ship with fishing rods in their hands. Interesting note though that the two people on the boats were happened to be wearing strange clothes.

"Uuwaaaaahhh! This is boorrriiing…." A slender man with green hair, oversized gloves, small hat, red lip, and tacky red and yellow checkered overall pants and blue shirts said. On his blue shirts, it had a face of giraffe.

"Hey, bub! Stay focus! We're here fishing! The boss won't be pleased if we don't come back with even just one fish, you know!" The other man warned him. This one was short, with a rugged beard, white makeup, and a bold head. This one wore a pink shirt and a pair of brown pants. He wore a normal-sized pair of white gloves and a fake green flower pinned to his shirt on his right side.

"I know that! I am just saying this job isn't too exciting," he moaned.

"Yeah, yeah. I get you, but a job is a job. If we don't catch something, we don't get to eat! And if we don't get to eat, we will become foods to the lions and the tigers!" The short man said horrifically.

"Geez, man! Don't say stuff like that! Boss may be strict, but he isn't like that!" The slender guy argued.

"Ha, ha! Just kidding, friend. Take it easy, bub," the short man chuckled.

As they talked and told a joke to each other, a single boat drifted and hit their boat, rocking a bit.

"Huh? Hey, what is this?" The slender man asked.

"What is it, bub? You caught something?" The short man asked.

At the very same time, a pirate ship sailed on their way on this vast sea of the Grand Line. This ship had ahead of goat and giant Jolly Roger with straw hats for its sign. This was the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates.

A stomach sound growled on the ship.

"Saaaanjiii…..I want fooooood….." A young slender man moaned, wearing a red shirt, short blue pants, sandals, and straw hats.

"Me too, Sanji….." Another man moaned. This one had a long nose and had an eye-google over his head.

"So hot…" A talking small Tanuki dog said, sticking his tongue out. This one had a blue nose, red hat with a big white cross over it, and wore short brown pants.

"Hey! Who are you calling a Tanuki dog?! I am a reindeer!" He yelled.

"Chopper, who are you yelling at? There's no one there…" The long-nosed man moaned.

"Yeah….Sorry….I am hungry that I may be starting hallucinating…" Chopper noted.

"You three are pathetic, you know that!" A young woman with orange hair scolded them.

"But we're hungrrrryyy!" The trio moaned.

"Well, it's you three idiots' fault to make us run off our food supply again! How many times do I have to tell you?!" The young lady argued angrily.

"Nami-swan!" A young man with blond hair came through the door. "I bought some refreshing drink to cool down during this hot morning!"

"Oh, thank you, Sanji-kun," Nami thanked the man, who had hearts for his eyes.

"And here is one for you, Robin-chan!" Sanji handed the second cup of drink to a dark-skinned woman, who was sitting at a table reading a book.

"Why thank you," she replied with a smile.

"No fair, Sanji!" The straw-hat man got up.

"Yeah! Why do the girls get a refreshing drink while we suffer in hunger!" The long-nosed man accused the blond-man.

"Yeah! That's right!" The talking Tanu…. I mean, the reindeer added.

"That's none of your business, you slackers and pigs! If you want me to cook something, then go and fish something!" Sanji yelled at them.

"That may be wise to do so. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper," Robin noted.

"Robin-chan is so smart! At least you know what's right!" Sanji commented as his eyes turned to hearts again.

'Boo! Boo!' The trio booed at Sanji behind his back.

"I hope you three understand what you have to do, right?" Sanji said calmly as he took a smoke.

"Yes, sir." The trio obeyed with some bumps on each of their heads, already fishing from the side of the boat.

That was when one other member of the crew just woke up. This was another man, but with green hair and three swords carrying with him.

He stretched his back and gave out a big yawn. He looked out to the sea, seeing how calm and quiet it was until he noticed two other boats.

"Hey. There are other boats over there," the man pointed out.

"Really?" The trio turned to the opposite side of the boat.

"Hey! What about the fish!" Sanji yelled at them.

"What's going on?" Nami asked as she walked over to the commotion.

Robin also joined the group.

"Over there." The swords-wielding man pointed his finger.

"Oooooo…. I see it! There are two boats!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Thanks for the obvious, Captain Obvious," Usopp commented as he then used his eye-google to zoom in for a better look.

When he did, he saw the same two-man before with a fainted woman.

"Ewwwwwwwwww!" Usopp cried.

"Oi, oi, what's wrong with you?" Sanji asked, looking a bit annoyed.

"I…I….I saw two clowns, pulling up one fainted lady onto their boat from the smaller boat!" Usopp explained.

"NANI!? You said a lady in trouble!" Sanji yelled.

"Really?!" Luffy asked.

"Wait? Did you say, two clowns?" Robin asked.

"Luffy, stretch your arm to that boat over there!" Sanji ordered as he grabbed hold onto the straw-hat man's back.

"Got it!" Luffy stated as he got ready. "Gum Gum Rocket!"

"Hey, wait up!" Nami said, but it was too late.

Luffy with Sanji on his back flew away from their ship, known as Merry Go, to the ships owned by the two "clowns".

"Hey, bub! Is this chick OK?" The short man asked.

"I don't know, buddy, but she doesn't look good. We got to take her to our place and get her…." They were interrupted when something crashing onto their ship, causing it to shake, but the ship wasn't damaged.

"Whaaaaaaaaat the?!" The two clowns gasped with a shocked expression on their faces.

"Hey, you two clowns…." The two men looked over at Sanji with an angry, scary expression. "What are you two doing with this lovely lady?"

"Huh? Who the hell are you?! And where did you come from?!" The short man questioned.

"I will answer your question…. Right after I beat you to dust!" Sanji kicked the short man on his head.

"Aaaaaahhh!" The slender man yelled in horror. "Wait, hold on! I think you are misunderstanding here! We didn't…."

"Uuuuh…. That does it. If you want to play a game like that, then I will show you!" The short man said angrily as he jumped in and attacked Sanji.

"You want some of this, you shortie!" Sanji argued.

"Who are you calling, shortie, you curly eyebrow weirdo!"

"Woah! You guys have some apples! Can I have some?" Luffy asked as he was already eating the apples from the barrel full of it.

"Hey! That's our apples! Not yours!" The slender man yelled as his eyes were popping out and his mouth wide-opened.

Back at the Merry Go, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates watched as the fight was occurring at the other boat.

"What are they doing?" Most of them had the same thought with a sweat-drop.

A little bit later, the fight was stopped. The two men or clowns were taken into custody to the Straw Hat's side. Everybody was on the Merry Go now.

"As we said, we didn't hurt the poor woman. We just found her drifting alone on the sea until her boat hit ours and we noticed," the slender clown explained, despite his face all injured with bumps and purple eye.

"Yeah, bub. That's the truth," the short clown added.

"Then, why was she drifting on the sea?" Sanji asked, still looking to accuses the two clowns in custody.

"As we said, we don't know! We just found her until you guys showed up and beaten up for us for now reason!" The slender clown said.

"They don't seem to be lying. I think they're telling the truth," Robin said.

"Ah, Robin-chan, I so agree with you! They're innocent," Sanji agreed automatically.

"This eye-brow is an idiot. He falls into a cute girl's word like he's a dog to them," the short clown commented.

"What did you call me? You want another round, shortie!" Sanji yelled.

"You want to go, bub?!" The short clown argued back, saying each other in their faces.

"Hey, hey! That's enough, you two!" Nami stopped them.

"So what were you two clowns doing out in the sea, anyway?" Luffy asked while eating some apples.

"Yeah. Why were you?" Usopp also asked as he was also eating the apples.

"You two! What the hell are you both doing eating those apples?!" Nami scolded them.

"Well, actually we were just fishing, ordered by our boss for foods, that's all," the slender clown explained.

"I see," Luffy said nonchalantly.

That was when Chopper came into the room.

"You're done?" The green-haired man asked.

"Yup, Zoro," Chopper replied. "The lady is fine. There were some bruises all over her back and front, but I put on some medicine on her and her vital organs are alright. The only thing is that her body is weak from less nutrition. Is there anything I can give her to eat?"

"Well, there are those apples that Luffy bought in…" Nami looked over the barrel of apples, but when she checked, it was already empty.

"Man, what a tasty apple they were!" Luffy felt stuffed.

"Me, too! That was great!" Usopp said happily.

Suddenly, they received big bumps over their heads by Nami.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any right now," Nami answered.

"Oh, I see…." Chopper said, sweating nervously in reaction to her sudden wrath. "Well, we will need to feed her! It seems like she hasn't been eating for a few days now!"

"I would definitely cook something for her, but I don't have any ingredients left to cook," Sanji said sadly.

"If we don't feed her something, she might die from starvation," Chopper warned.

"Ummm…. If I may speak," the slender clown said. "We know a place where you can get some food for her."

"Really? Where?" Chopper asked.

"Hey, bub. You don't mean….?" The short clown asked.

"Hey, buddy! We don't have any choice, anyway! We're the one who found the poor woman in the first place, and we were planning to bring her with us, anyway," whispered the slender clown.

"Yeah, but now we had to bring these clowns with us," the short clown whispered back. "And I don't trust these people. They're pirates, you know!"

"What are you saying about taking her to your place?" Zoro asked.

"Oh, right!" The slender clown jumped. "Well, you see, why don't we go back to our home?"

"Home? Is it near around here?" Nami asked.

"That's right," the short clown answered. "Our home is not far from here. We happened to be part of the sea-traveling group."

"Sea-traveling group? Are you two happened to be part of a group called 'Shining Sea Circus'?" Robin asked.

"What's that?! Circus?" Luffy asked with a smile and excitement in his eyes.

"Ho, I see you heard of us, lady!" The short clown said, looking impressed. "That's right. We happened to be members of the Shining Sea Circus, the most famous sea-traveling circus on the Grand Line!"

"The one and only!" The slender clown added. "And if you want our help, we can ask the Boss if he can provide you, nice folks, some of our foods for the trouble. What do you say?"

"Wow! A sea traveling circus? Now, this is something I gotta see!" Luffy said excitedly. "Hey, Nami, let's go to these guys' circus! It sounds like a fun adventure!"

"Hmmm, well, since we do have a patient on board and we need to re-stock our food supply…." Nami thought to herself before she nodded. "Alright, I guess we have no other choice, then."

"That's sound great! I am excited to see the circus!" Chopper said with his eyes sparkled. The crew looked over to him, but he shook off. "Ah, I mean, of course we are going there for my patient!"

Robin chuckled to herself as Luffy gave a big smile.

"Alright then! The full rudder on, men! We're heading to Shining Sea Circus!" Luffy declared as everyone got to work.

They released the sail and pulled up the anchor. They began setting sail to their next destination.

"By the way, what are you guys' names?" Luffy asked.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to introduce ourselves. The name's Mitch," Mitch introduced as he was the short clown.

"I'm Jerry," Jerry the slender clown said.

"Nice to meet ya, Mitch and Jerry. I'm Monkey D. Luffy," Luffy answered.

Meanwhile, not too far away, a giant ship anchored in the middle of the Grand Line. This ship was a massive red-pinkish ship with a giant lion face in the front and head of an elephant on the back. At the very top of this ship was a young boy looking out to the sea in the crow's nest.

This young boy wore a small top hat, opened-button red jacket with gold laces, a white dress shirt, and a pair of black pants with the same matching color shoes. His hair was brown with bits of spikes, and blue eyes as blue as the seas.

"Hey, Aster!" He looked down over to see a young girl with short green hair covered partially by an orange bandana, dark brown eyes, some jewelry around her wrists, and lemon-lime colored tops, Jean shorts, and orange shoes.

"Staring out in the sea again, you lazy bum!" She yelled.

"Yeah, but I am not being lazy. Just looking out and also wondering when Mitch and Jerry would be back," he answered.

"Huh? Those clowns? They will be just fine!" she answered back. "What are you? Their mother or something?"

"Ha, ha, very funny, Mira. Maybe you should be like them, not a dog tamer," he said sarcastically.

"Oh, look at you, Mr. Funny Puppeteer!" Mira puffed her cheek, looking the other way.

Aster laughed at her reaction, but he was only teasing her. He looked out the sea and saw a ship was coming toward theirs. Even without a binocular, he could tell it was a ship coming from a mile away as he had a good sense of observation.

"Hmmm….?" He noticed as Mira noticed his change of behavior.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked.

"There's a ship coming our way," he said.

"Really?" Mira looked excited. "It must be customers!"

"No….I don't think so. As a matter of fact, I see….see…a…." He saw the Jolly Roger with the Straw Hat coming their way. "It's a PIRATE!"

* * *

**Ah hoy! This is NewComer1 with a brand new fanfic!**

**You may or may not know me, but I work on other fanfics such as Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS and Yo-Kai Watch, but this is my first One Piece fanfic! **

**This fanfic is something that's been on my mind and I have an interest back in One Piece anime. I finally decided to put it into an actual story and the first one begins with this! For my One Piece fanfic, I will both original arc of my own creation and some arcs from the original manga/anime. This story is centrally focused on my OC, Aster Houdini and this first story is how he meets the Straw Hat Pirates.**

**I hope you all enjoy this and give any criticism. Thank you very much and I hope to see you all soon again. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The Sea-Traveling Circus, the Shining Sea Circus!

The Straw Hat Pirates, along with a sick patient, the mysterious lady, were heading to the Shining Sea Circus' ship, aided by the clown duo, Mitch, and Jerry for direction.

"Oi! I see a ship ahead!" Zoro yelled aloud from the crow's nest.

"It looks like we're almost there, bubs," Mitch the short clown said. Everyone walked up to the front side of the ship to see the destination. When they did, they were amazed to see.

"Yoo-hoo! It's huge!" Luffy exclaimed.

Indeed, the ship was excessively big. Like Merry Go, but differently, it had the face of the lion while on the back was the head of the elephant. The ship was reddish-pink color with a huge dome-like structure over the deck. It was like five times bigger than their ship, and maybe even bigger than Marines' battleship. In the middle of the ship was to be the mast, and at the top of the mast was the circus' flag, which was a fancy gold and red emblem, with one golden lion on one side and other side was a silver tiger while an eagle held the emblem with its feet on the top. It had the letters "S.C." on the emblem/

"What a ship!" Usopp gasped.

"It's so big!" Chopper stated.

"I never have seen such a huge ship like this before!" Sanji said.

"It must be even bigger than the Marines' battleship," Robin added.

"Impressive, eh, bubs? We're the only circus to sail the old girl," Mitch explained.

"It is one of its kind. You should see it when we do our show!" Jerry noted.

"Cool! Do you guys have like lions, tiger, elephants, and panda?" Luffy asked with wonders sparking in his eyes.

"What's with the panda at the end? Never heard of circus owning a panda," Usopp commented.

"We have all of them, except for panda," Mitch said.

"So, where do we dock?" Nami asked.

"Just around the corner, Miss. There's a ladder that we can climb on to get on board," Mitch explained.

They sailed around the ship until they saw a ladder just as Mitch said. They safely anchored Merry Go just near enough the ship for hands to reach the ladder.

"I feel so excited, so excited." Chopper whispered to himself as Robin noticed, and grinned to the little doctor's excitement.

"If you all don't mind, we will climb up the ladder first and ask the boss permission to get you all on board first," Jerry said.

"Ew? We can't get on board?" Luffy said, looking a bit disappointed.

"Luffy, don't be so rude!" Nami scolded before she turned to the clown duo. "Sure thing. We can wait first."

"Thanks, Miss. We will be back soon," Mitch said as he began climbing up the ladder with Jerry following after him.

"I have to say. This is one huge ship," Zoro commented as he looked up at the massive behemoth of a ship.

"It's very impressive," Nami said. "I wonder what's the dome is for."

"It must be used for their circus show. Normally, circuses use a tent, but what I heard about Shining Sea Circus, they don't use tents. Rather, their ship is the circus tent itself," Robin explained.

"Eww! What does that mean?" Chopper asked.

"It means that they use their ship to do their show," Sanji said. "It reminds me of how Sea Bailey and how it works."

"That's so awesome!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper's eyes twinkled like stars.

"I can't wait to get on the ship!" Luffy said excitedly.

30 minutes have passed, and the Straw-Hat Pirates were still waiting on the ship.

"Hey, guys. Are those clown guys coming back yet?" Luffy moaned, looking a bit impatient as he laid on the floor.

"Those clowns are taking long to ask their Boss," Usopp said. "I wonder if something happened."

"Who knows? We just have to wait," Zoro said as he was relaxing.

"But the patient needs something to eat. If they are taking too long, then…" Chopper said worriedly.

"That's a good point," Nami noted.

"Maybe we should go up and check?" Sanji suggested.

"I don't think that's necessary." Everyone looked at Robin. "It seems like our Captain already went to check."

"Huh?" Everyone looked at where Luffy was, but he was nowhere in sight. "That can't be…." Everyone was thinking the same thing. They looked up and saw Luffy stretched his arm, jumping onboard the circus' ship.

"Luffy! What are you doing up there?! Get back down here!" Nami yelled at him.

"Oi, guys! Come up here! Let's explore the place and find the clown duo!" Luffy yelled back.

"I can't believe it!" Nami face palmed herself.

"Well, I guess we have no choice," Sanji said as he began climbing up the rope ladder.

"Sanji-Kun? You too?!" Nami asked, surprisingly.

"If the captain says so, then we have to follow an order, right?" Sanji replied. "But don't worry, Nami-san, if you are coming with me, then I will make sure I will protect you!"

"Rrr…Fine. I guess I will go to," Nami shrugged as she joined in.

"I would like to go, but I have to keep an eye on the patient, so I will stay here," Chopper said.

"Then, I will stay, too," Robin said. "What about you, Long-Nose Kun?"

"Me? Ewww…I…." He looked up at the huge ship, looking very massive and intimidating due to its size. "Urgh! Oh no! My doesn't want to get on a big circus ship disease is taking an effect on me!"

"There's no such thing!" Zoro yelled. Zoro, along with the scared Usopp, joined Sanji and Nami as the four climbed up the rope ladder.

Chopper watched them as they climbed up the ladder, looking worried and sort of jealous.

"If you want to go, you can go, Doctor," Robin suggested.

"Huh?! Oh, no! I can't do that! I mean, I do want to go with Luffy and others to explore the ship and all, but I am the ship doctor and I have a patient on board! I can't just go…." Chopper explained.

"Don't worry. I am fine alone, and I can keep an eye on her for you," Robin said.

"Really? Well…. I guess I can go with others just a bit," Chopper said. "Maybe I can ask the clown duo or their Boss if they have any medicine. Um, OK then…." Chopper moved slowly and slowly until he was already touching the end of the ladder rope.

'He wants to go. He's so cute….' Robin said in her thought.

All members except for one were onboard the ship. Strangely, it was very quiet. There was no sign of Mitch or Jerry. In a matter of fact, there seems to be no sign of anyone except themselves.

"Strange. There is nobody here!" Nami pointed out.

"Where did those clowns go?" Sanji asked.

"Who knows. Maybe we should look for them," Zoro said.

"I don't know about this, guys. I mean, we may be guests and all, but we should not even be here, snooping around without permission! Besides, with no one around, this place feels creepy!" Usopp shivered.

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat!" Sanji stated. "Let's just find the clowns and see what's going on."

"Speaking of which, where did the captain goes?" Zoro asked.

Nami sighed greatly. "Great! Now we have to find him, too," Nami groused.

"So, we're on the ship. This feels so cool!" Chopper said excitedly as he just got on board.

"Maybe we should split up to find Luffy and the clowns," Zoro suggested.

"For once, I agree with you on that," Sanji nodded as he stepped closer with Nami. "I'll be with Nami-chan!"

"Fine, fine," Nami shrugged. "Just follow me."

"Yes, madam!" Sanji tagged along with the navigator while Zoro, Usopp, and Chopper stayed together and walked the other way. Little did they knew that they were being watched.

Meanwhile, Luffy was on his little adventure on the mysterious circus ship. "Yo-ho! This place is huge! Somebody can get lost here so easily! I wonder where Mitch and Jerry went," Luffy thought aloud until his stomach growled.

"Uuuuh, I'm getting hungry. I wonder if I can find food anywhere on this ship," Luffy asked.

That was when he caught the scent of something delicious.

"Mm? This smell… This aroma…. It is food!" Luffy said excitedly as his eyes brightened with saliva falling from the side of his mouth.

He followed the aroma down the hallway and found the door to the kitchen. He opened up the door and saw that the kitchen was empty, well empty as in no other people except himself. There was a cooking pot already boiling something. Maybe it was soup. There was a chopped off carrot on the cooking board. It appeared that somebody was here a moment ago, but Luffy didn't care and the only thing he was thinking was chowing down whatever was cooking in the pot.

"This is it! I wonder what's cooking?" Luffy asked as he opened the pot.

"Phooooo…" Luffy stopped as he opened the pot. He heard a strange noise and wondered what it was.

"Grrrr…" He heard a roaring sound. He thought it was his stomach, but the sound was coming from somewhere else and it was near. Then, he noticed something. There was a hatch just next to the counter. He pulled it forward to open and looked down through.

"What is this for?" He said curiously.

Then, without noticing, somebody pushed behind him, and he fell through.

"Woah!" He exclaimed as he fell through the hatch.

_\- One Piece -_

Sanji and Nami were exploring the deck area of the ship. The ship was enormous if you were standing on another ship away from it, but when on board, it felt almost like a maze.

"Man, this place is huger in-person when onboard!" Nami commented as she was impressed by its structure.

"She is a real beauty. I have never seen a ship this big before in my entire life. It's probably big or even bigger than the Navy's battleship," Sanji added.

Nami and Sanji walked around until they came near to a big door for the dome-like structure.

'I wonder what's behind here,' Nami pondered before she turned to Sanji. "Hey, Sanji-Kun. Could you please open this door for me?"

"Yes, Nami-san!" Sanji followed her request or rather order. He casually opened the door and like a gentleman he is, he allowed the lady to go in first.

When they were in together, the inside of the dome structure was the circus ring, where many performers and animals do their performance show.

"Wow. This must be the circus ring!" Nami stated as she looked around.

"It looks like so, Nami-san. There are poles for trapeze, and other circus stuff," Sanji said as he looked around. Inside the circus ring was dark, but they did not know that somebody else was also inside.

Suddenly, a light turned on, blinding the two temporarily.

"Ah! Who turned on the lights?!" Nami screamed.

"Are you OK, Nami-san?!" Sanji asked.

Suddenly, a black rope tied around Nami like a knot.

"Ah!" Nami gasped as she took in a sudden surprise.

"Nami-san!" Sanji shouted.

Suddenly, a fire was shot at Sanji, but thanks to his quick thinking and reflexes, he jumped away from it.

The fire was caused by a fire-breather. It revealed to be a tan-skinned man with dark tattoos all over his body and partial part of his face. He was half-naked, only wearing a red robe of some kind around his waist as it acted like pants. His eyes were angry-looking with eyebrows that went outward and looked sharpen like a pencil.

"Who the hell are you?!" Sanji asked madly.

"We should be asking the same thing to you both," said a female voice.

Nami and Sanji turned their attention to the source of the voice. A tall, voluptuous woman with a long, black ponytail came out of the shadows while holding a black whip that was tying Nami. She wore a white shirt with black buttons, black shorts, and black high-heel boots. From the look of it, she looked like the animal tamer.

"Who are you?!" Nami and Sanji said at the same time, though the latter looked more pleased with heart-shaped eyes.

"That won't matter once we kick you and your friends out of this ship!" The woman responded. "We'll teach you, pirates, scum to not mess with us!"

"That's right! Kick this!" The man shouted. "Flamethrower!"

The man breathed out more fires at Sanji, but he quickly dodged it.

"Wait! Hold on! This is all just a big misunderstanding! We are just…. Aaah!" Nami was pulled by the woman with the whip, making her trip.

"Nami-san!" Sanji wanted to save Nami, but he could not at the moment as he was busy with the man who he assumed to be the fire performer.

_\- One Piece –_

Zoro, Usopp, and Chopper were searching for Luffy in the other area of the ship. Currently, they were just below the deck.

They walked down the hallway.

"Geez. This place is so creepy! Why is there no one on board the ship?" Usopp shivered.

"I should've stayed with Robin back on Merry," Chopper said as he was walking closely behind Usopp.

"Quit being so close to me, will you?!" Zoro scolded them. "There's nothing scary about this ship despites being so damn big!"

They came to the end of the hallway, which there was a door.

Zoro opened the door, leading them inside to what appeared to be a dressing room.

"Where are we now?" Usopp asked, feeling scared.

"It looks like a dressing room," Zoro answered.

"Wow! Check this out!" Chopper said as he approached all the clothes. "There are so many clothes! I wonder if these are used by the performers."

"Most likely, but there seems to be no sign of Luffy," Usopp said as he looked around the room.

"Well, if he is not here, then let's go and look for him somewhere else," Zoro said as he was looking the other way.

However, when he turned around, Usopp and Chopper disappeared.

Zoro stood still, not because he was in shock, but he sensed someone was here. In the matter of fact, he sensed that the moment they got on this ship, someone was watching them.

"Hmph. I guess looking for our captain won't be an easy task as we thought," Zoro said as he slightly opened his sword for the sheath.

_\- One Piece –_

Meanwhile, Robin was on the deck of Merry Go. She was casually reading one of her books at the small table. She took a glance up at the behemoth of a circus ship.

"I wondered if they found the two clown gentlemen. If they are taking this long, they must be searching for the captain, who went on his own for personal exploration," Robin thought aloud as she grinned to herself before she continued reading.

However, a shadowy figure approached behind her and then….

WHACK!

"Ah!" Robin gasped as she fell over from her chair and fainted.

"I….. I'm starving…" said a tired, desperate female voice.

* * *

**Hello, guys and gals! Sorry for the long wait!**

**I know that this chapter is short, but I just want to first make an introduction of the setting for the rest of this story arc, and then the next chapter will be a longer chapter with some fight scenes as well as what happened to Luffy, and proper introduction of the new protagonist OC character for my One Piece fanfic project.**

**Please leave any review and I hope you all stay safe and healthy. See ya later! **


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Straw Hat Pirates vs. Shining Sea Circus

"Pwoooooo!" The fire performer breathed out a flame out of his mouth at Sanji.

Sanji kept his distance safe by jumping away from the fire, but the man wasn't giving him a chance to attack back.

'Damn it! I can't get close enough to attack this guy nor I can save Nami-san, too!' He thought as he dodged the fire attacks.

"Sanji-Kun!" Nami shouted. "Ah!"

The whip that was tightening her tightened so she couldn't move.

"Please stop this! You're all misunderstood!" Nami pleaded to the woman.

"Quiet you! Once Bobo finishes your friend, we will deal with you next," she said. "Along with the rest of your crew."

"What? But is that mean that the others are….?!" Nami thought aloud, now looking very worried and terrified.

Meanwhile, where the others were….

One side of the wall was sliced in a blink of the eye. A sound of steel made a sound through the hallway. The walls were being sliced everywhere.

"Grrgh!" Zoro stopped swords with his own. He was in a fight against another sword user, or rather swords user.

"Tch, you're not half bad… I never met another person who uses four sword style before," Zoro said as he smirked. "This is going to be exciting!"

"And, I admit that you by far the strongest swordsman I've ever met in life! I say you are remarkably interesting," said the man.

This man wore skin-tight black pants that made the buttock looked more recognizable, purple dress shirt, and white neck collar with a green broach in the center area of his neck, and pair of white high-heel sandals. He also wore makeup, which stood out his feature the most. However, the most interesting thing was his enormous orange beard that was acting as extra limbs, with four strands carrying a sword each.

"Interesting? Hah, you're the one to talk. I take it that you're Devil Fruit user?" Zoro asked.

"Precisely!" the man replied. "I ate the Hige-Hige Fruit, also known as the Beard-Beard Fruit, which granted me the power to control this luxurious beard and use it as my extra limbs. Though, even knowing that, it won't help you!"

The man attacked again with his swords. Zoro blocked each attack as he walked backward while staying calm. However, eventually, he had to attack back, but he couldn't find it where. Worse of all….

"Zoro, help us!" A familiar cowardly voice yelled from inside of the beard.

"Please! It's so hairy in here!" Yelled another.

"You guys!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Ah, so you are a type of guy who worries for your crewmates," said the man.

"What about it?" Zoro asked in a serious tone.

"All the pirates I faced before usually run away and ditch their crewmates to save their own life, but you are different. I say that I admire that, truthfully I am, but the pirate is a pirate, and I'm doing to this protect my crewmates," the man explained.

"Protect your crewmates? Wait for a second….!" Zoro quickly crouched before the sword almost sliced him in half.

Meanwhile, while the rest of the Straw Hats were in their predicament, their very own captain was stuck somewhere on the lower floor of the ship.

"Mmm…. Mmmm!" Luffy's head got stuck inside the ground, so he tried pulling himself out. After some tries, he managed to pull himself out.

"Baah! Man, that was a long fall!" Luffy exclaimed. "Some jerk must have pushed me behind!"

He stood up and looked up in the vent where he came through.

"I wonder if I can climb up back to the kitchen…" Luffy thought aloud.

"Grrrrr…."

"I know my stomach. I am hungry," Luffy moaned.

"Grrrr…"

"Wait a second… That isn't my stomach…" Luffy said as he turned around.

In front of him, he noticed that shadowy creatures with menacing, glowing red eyes surrounded him. Their mouth was drooling with saliva as they growled.

"Grraaaaahh!" One of the creatures roared, revealing it to be a male lion. Accompanying it were two lionesses.

"Oh, ho! So these are the lions! So cool!" Luffy was amazed before one of the lions jumped on him.

However, he quickly dodged away as the other two also tried to pounce on the rubber man.

"Gum-Gum Punch!" Luffy punched one of the lionesses, hitting her into the wall.

The second lioness attacked with her claws out.

"Gum-Gum Kick!" Luffy kicked the second lioness in her face, knocking her out easily like the first one.

It was now between him and the king of the jungle itself. The male lion walked slowly around as Luffy did the same while looking straight into their eyes.

The male lion ran towards Luffy as he also ran towards it with his fist ready.

"Aaaaaaaaahhh!" Luffy roared as the lion roared at him with its clawed paw out.

_\- One Piece –_

"Fire-Style Phoenix Blitz!" Bobo, the fire dancer performed his attack, which he shot out a fire shaped of a phoenix.

'Crap! I won't able to dodge that!' Sanji thought.

The fire attack hit him, burning him alive.

"Sanji-kuuuun!" Nami screamed as she saw her friend burned alive in horror.

"Your friend by far lasted the longest in fighting Bobo, but nobody has defeated Bobo in a fight thanks to his fire breathing technique. Not even I can, and I handle ferocious beasts like every day," the female animal tamer said.

"Well, that's that," Bobo said, thinking the fight was finished. "What should we do with the woman?"

As he thought he was over, a smell of cigarettes whipped over his nostrils. The smell came from behind, and he felt someone was breathing behind.

"Yes, that's that!" Suddenly, Bobo got a kick on the side, causing him to fly over until he hit a couple of box crates.

"Sanji-Kun!" Nami was relieved to see Sanji was alright.

"What?! But how?!" The animal tamer gasped. "How are you alive?!"

"Simple. I used one of your circus tricks," Sanji answered as he smoked.

"What?!" She said as she looked over what was supposed to be the curly eyebrow man's burning corpse.

However, it was revealed to be just his jacket that was burning but underneath revealed a hidden door.

"Ah! That is one of our hidden doors!" She realized. "You used one of our hidden doors to dodge and hide!"

"That's right," Sanji answered. "I admit. I thought I was a goner, but good thing I noticed it when Nami-swan and I came in here. I saw couples of the hidden doors on the floor here and there. I thought it was probably used for your circus performances, but luckily, I used it to save my own life."

"Wow, Sanji-Kun, I'm impressed. Good thinking!" Nami praised.

"Oh sucks, Nami-swan! Did you feel your heart skipped a beat?!" Sanji asked with his eyes full of hearts.

"Yes, yes," Nami sighed. "I did, but now…. Could you save me already?!"

_\- One Piece -_

Somewhere else on the ship, Zoro continued fighting the beard-beard man. The beard-beard man continued with his attack, as Zoro dodged and blocked the attack while they constantly slashed everything in their path. They were currently around near the dome stage area.

'This is getting annoying! I got to finish this, but I don't want to hurt Usopp and Chopper while trapped by this weirdo's beard!" Zoro thought while blocking the okama man's beard with his two swords.

"What's wrong, darling? Are you not going to strike me while I held your crewmates hostages?!" The man dared.

"Help us, Zoro!" Usopp and Chopper cried as the beard swallowed them deeper and deeper.

"Hmph…" Zoro looked with a cold, calm expression. "Say, I didn't get your name."

"Huh? My name?" The man asked. "Very well. I didn't properly introduce myself, and that was rude of me. My name is Violet. What is yours, darling?"

"The name's Roronoa Zoro, the man who will become the greatest swordsman in the world," Zoro stated sternly, yet seriously.

"Hmm?!" Violet's eyes widened with a surprising look. He got into his battle position.

Zoro got into his stance as he put his third sword in his mouth.

"Ho, so you use the three-sword style. Interesting. Then, let's see what it can do against my four-sword beard style!" Violet declared.

"Santoryu!" Zoro jumped towards Violet quickly.

"He's fast!" Violet thought.

Zoro slashed Violet faster than he could see him. He cut his beard partially, releasing Chopper and Usopp.

"We're freeeeeee!" The two cheered.

"Gaaaahhh!" Violet was cut as he bleeds.

Zoro's sword attack was so powerful that it had also cut the wall, which broke apart, causing a big hole that connected the stage area.

"Huh?" Zoro looked over the broken wall.

"Z…Zoro?!" Nami gasped.

"Moss-Head?!" Sanji widened.

"Curly-Brow?!" Zoro surprised.

"Nami! Sanji!" Usopp and Chopper cried.

"Ah, Violet!" The animal tamer woman exclaimed. "Nooo!"

"What's going on here?!" Usopp asked.

"Nami is trapped by that woman with the whip!" Chopper pointed out.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by more members of the circus. Most of them were clowns, some short and some very tall, and others were different circus staff. Among them was the girl named Mira, and just behind her was a man clapping his hand as he walked towards the front of everyone.

He was about 10 feet tall and had a mild muscular body in a dark red overcoat with golden shoulder-pads and cape. The sleeve ended with a white fluffy collar. He also wore a black top-hat with three feathers, one red, one yellow, and one blue, and gold star, black slack, and black shoes His overcoat were half-opened, revealing a white shirt and pink necktie with black star pattern.

The man walked towards and looked at each present member of the Straw Hat Pirates. Usopp, Nami, and Chopper stayed calm, yet terrified. Sanji and Zoro looked serious at the man.

"Bravo, pirates. Bravo," said the man.

The Straw Hat looked confused about the man's reaction.

"I got to admit that a crew like you all is the first to ever get this far. You gave us quite an entertainment. You defeated both Bobo and Violet, who are two of the strongest men in my crew! I say, congratulations."

"Congratulations?" Nami repeated.

"What the hell is this guy talking about?" Zoro thought aloud.

"Beat me," Sanji added.

"This man scares me!" Usopp shivered in fear as he hugged with Chopper, who was also shivering in fear.

"I should've stayed with Robin on Merry!" Chopper cried.

"However, your fun ends here, and my crew here will finish the job, like what we do with all the pirates that come across our way!" He declared.

Zoro and Sanji were ready to face the entire circus. However, they were all interrupted when the floor below them cracked. A male lion crashed through the floor, surprising everyone.

"Yaaaaaaahhh!" A familiar male voice shouted, who revealed to be the captain of the Straw Hat himself.

"Lufffffy!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper exclaimed.

"Ah, Mr. Yum-Yum!" The animal tamer let go of her whip, freeing Nami unintentionally.

"What the hell?! Why our lion is here?!" The man gasped.

"I don't know, Boss, but apparently, it was caused by him!" One of the circus members pointed.

"Wooo! Finally, I am back upstairs, but…" Luffy looked around his surroundings. "This is not the kitchen."

"Luffy! You're OK!" Usopp said.

"Luffy!" Nami walked angrily towards the captain and yanked his face.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Luffy cried.

"You idiot! Where were you all this time?!" Nami scolded.

"Nami, stop pulling my face!" Luffy argued.

"We've been looking all over for you, you big dimwit! Next time, don't go alone!" Nami scolded as she pulled his face further and let him go.

"Luffy, we're so glad you're OK," Chopper said happily.

"Oh! Hey, Chopper. Did you join to explore the ship? Is this place neat?" Luffy asked interestingly.

"Geez. You are such a troublesome, you know that?" Nami stated.

The members of the circus looked at the Straw Hats, feeling very dumbfounded.

"Hey, what are they doing, guys?" Boss asked.

"I think they're having a conversation, sir," said one of the members.

"It seems that way," said the other.

"And we're completely being ignored, honk-honk!" said one of the clowns.

"Hmmm…" Boss looked annoyed. "Hey, you lot!"

He caught the Straw Hat's attention.

"Huh?" They all replied with the same expression.

"Don't 'huh' me! Can't you lot see that we're gonna get rid of you?!" Boss fumed.

"Huh? Get rid of us? What is this guy talking about?" Luffy asked, looking very confused.

"Well, just as you crashed in here from below, we were ambushed by what appeared to be the entire circus!" Usopp explained.

"Ho! Really? Is that mean they're gonna put a show for us?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Not that, you idiot!" Nami yelled. "They're gonna fight us!"

"Fight us? For what?" Luffy asked.

"Well, Luffy, it goes like this…." Usopp began explaining as they completely ignored Boss and his circus crew.

Boss was becoming irritated as he was ignored again. As he was about to declare to attack the Straw Hat, everyone stopped with the light turned off.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" They all heard laughter.

"What was that?" Nami asked.

"Hey, who turn out the light?!" Boss questioned.

"Don't worry, Boss. I will deal with the intruders if you may," said the voice.

A single spotlight shined on the top of the trapeze tower. Everyone looked up to see what the light was shining at, which revealed to be a young boy on the platform with his hat covering his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girl! Welcome to the Shining Sea Circus!" The young boy grabbed on the trapeze. He let go of the first trapeze, performing a triple spin, and then grabbed the second trapeze that came towards him. He landed on the second platform.

"For today's show, we have an unexpected, yet special guests today!" He threw a smoke bomb over himself, disappearing in the smoke.

Then, he reappeared in the middle of the Straw Hat group, surprising them.

"Our guest today is the infamous pirate group from an unknown place, who we know have kidnapped our beloved members of the circus!" The boy disappeared again in a cloud of smoke.

Then, he reappeared in front of them.

"But fear not! For I, Aster Houdini is here to save the day!" Aster declared with a smile

Sanji, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were surprised. However, Chopper and Luffy especially were impressed and interested as their eyes glittered like a star.

* * *

**Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Independence Day if you live in the States. **

**It is almost two months since the last chapter update, but here we are with Chapter 2!**

**There is nothing else for me to say, but as always, stay safe and healthy even in the summer, and stay hydrated. **

**See you all in the next chapter soon! **


End file.
